Kensington Gloaming

oil on board, 16x16

I am very busy finishing paintings still for my upcoming show. There are a few paintings that have their frames waiting but the painting is still on the easel. This, thankfully, is a finished one.
The show, Vibration, Mystery and the Landscape, begins April 8 and runs through May 3. The opening reception is April 11, 6-9. I will also give a demo on Saturday the 12th. So please come if you can. It's at the Waverly Street Gallery, one block from the red line Bethesda metro stop.

Aphrodite and me

11.5x12.25 pastel

Finally I am back to pastel. I missed it! So much finishing of paintings for the show..not enough fun.
This one came to me when I was swimming laps this lunch time.  Even the name...Aphrodite's Dream. Crazy, huh? Often I labor for months this took 45 minutes tops. It was already made in my head.
It was inspired by my favorite place Chincoteague Island. On the wall in my studio is this large study created in Chincoteague with black pastel only. It didn't sell at the plein air event...maybe that's better, so far it has inspired three paintings.

challenge in key

oil on wood 30x40

Someone made the comment that my work was all high key. I struggled with that comment for awhile and realized that while I use neutrals with more saturated colors they are close to the same key. That brought on a new challenge...could I paint a lower key piece?

nightfall and Rothko

bottom of painting

oil, 16x5.75

Mark Rothko once said,"Often, towards nightfall, there's a feeling in the air of mystery, threat, frustration-all of these at once. I would like my paintings to have the qualities of such moments."
After reading that quote I felt strongly about the colors changes I needed for this one. (Sorry about the glare on the bottom one. it is still too wet. I will replace the photo when it is drier.)

Inspiration and the Orchid

oil, 24x36

Recently I read one of Picasso's great quotes, "The artist is a receptacle of emotion that comes from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider web."
Inspiration comes from everywhere. The idea for this painting began during a  Thanksgiving trip to Cape May, but it was viewing a new orchid bloom that inspired the color.
Color in nature is perfect. It's better than anything I could imagine. I am not sure if this painting is done yet. It and I need to be still.

Sapphire Twilight in Chincoteague

Thanks to my many friends for your input. It did need the pizazz of the smaller one. Consider it done!

scaling up a painting

oil, 40x20

Scaling up a painting from a very small (6"x6") to a large (40"x20") is a challenge. Simply transferring the image and making it larger rarely results in an interesting piece. Therefore, since my interest was really in the sky I decided to change the format to the dynamic vertical. Still the land mass needed some interest, yet simplicity. That's where the real battle was. I am still not sure, but it is almost time to frame. As they say, a painting has many stopping points. Any suggestions folks?

pastel 6x6

feedburner collapse

18x36 oil

My feedburner collapsed and thanks to my good friend Domi we are back in business. You probably wondered why you hadn't received a post from me in over a month, right? I was still writing once or twice a week. Well after receiving an email from Pat H about my disappearance, I  was alerted about the problem. (Thanks PAT!) Solving it was another thing and that was Domi's department. Apparently my code, that works with my feedburner, had grown like a fertilized kudzu plant and was over 500 tags. (I may not be explaining this correctly.) Domi fixed that and hopefully all of my subscribers are receiving this email. (THANK YOU DOMI!)
Meanwhile I have been busy in the studio. I am finishing and framing.  I finally finished the painting in this post.
And last, here is  photo of some of the chaos in the studio. I can barely walk through due to all the paintings staring at me. All are crying out to be finished. Yipes. More about framing in another post. The show opens April 8, with the reception on April 11th.